THREES DAYS IN THE BUSH WITH A BROKEN LEG. A True Tale of Modern Queensland Pluck and Energy.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 290, 15 August 1888, Page 3

THREES DAYS IN THE BUSH WITH A BROKEN LEG. A True Tale of Modern Queensland Pluck and Energy.

\Y]JJL,st al Georgetown, C. Queensland, laLoly (wiites a concspondent), I visited the capital little hosjntal there, and Dr. Landridgc, t»he resident medica* officer, introduced me to an elderly malo patient. .Robert Beadnell, as lie is named, had had a miiaculous e.scapc fioni a horrible death, by a series of happy circumstances so leplcte with interest, that I determined at once to place the rcadcis ol the "Town and Country in possession of the iaet«, which are fully authenticated. Queensland may "well be proud of'confaining the chief actors in fcho aflaii, and it is only because of their number that one must omit mentioning them. Beadnell, who is a thin, firm-knit, gio\ -haired oiian ot over 60 years, had no objection (after hearing 1 that we purposed to publish the story of his accident and nariow escape in the "To«n and Country") to tell us the whole particulars of the- same. Ho satup thereupon in bed, with his body bent forward a little, and emphasised his woid& ? 'which weie well chosen and concise, by using his hands, acting the whole houiblo time over again with great histrionic effect. "i'vo been a miner, or, rather, a piospectov," said the old man, rubbing hi* hands softly up and down his left leg', which Avas eased in a bandage; "I've been a miner for a long time, and ha\o followed the diggings for the last 20 years, since leaving my own trade, which is that of a ship's cat pen tor. I may boast of being the iiist to take a raft of firewood iroin the islands of iho Whitsunday passage to Bow en. Well, you must know I'm a bit of a 'hatter,' and many's the time, through having no mate, LVc narrowly escaped losing the nuinbei oi my mess, from natives and other causes, but this one was the nearest shave. L don't think I shall go out again alone. I 'was pro.-^pecting last November near Peicy, a lonely place about ]5 miles fiom Mount llogan, both of which places aic upon uppct blanches of the (Jilbcit River. Rations lan out, and I left my lonely camp, ndiug upon the pack-saddle of my steed, which was a cait-horsc. We woic oil the track ami going through thebush, \\ hen something caused the horse to commence plunging and tucking. 1 was lighting my pipe ab the time, and may ha\e diopped some j-paiks upon him. Anyhow, betore you rould say ' knife' I was thrown backward.-,, and fell between the hind legs of the animal, my left toot entangled in a strap 1 had been using as a stirrup. The brute commenced kicking till he kicked me clear ot him, and then bolted. 1 suppose I fainted, but not lor long, I know. When I came to. 1 found that J was covocd with blood, and after fleeing my eyes fiom what had (lowed fiom a deep cut in the foichead, I found my left leg in a tcirible state. This is wheio my left foot was" continued Beadnell, placing his light hand pointing towards him on the "outside ot his left knee, J>olh bones of the leg were sticking through the ti outers, and ior our benefit Beadncil proceeded to act the humble part wheio ho lifted the leg round and forced the ma&hedup bone and niuycle somewhat into their original form. "Luckily," continued lie, "1 could ]iislieach sonic sticks, and tearing the lower part oi my shut off I made a lough 'splint. " Your training as a sailor, nbov'e all as a ship s caipcnter, stood you in good stead thcic, eh?' *' You'ic light, su, I e.\nect it did." Having made Ins leg a bit the poor fellow next turned his attention to making a hat (his own was nowheie to be seen), as the sun was beating down as it can in mid-summer in Queensland in an open bush country. This he managed by tyii/g a bunch of selected lengths together and intcilacing them with o the is. He was getting thirsty now, and tho pain of his many wounds was almost too j much to bear, s-o he dug a little hole in the soil by hrshead, in case of lain falling, and j Wailed. " Did you cooey V" "Idid. 1 coocyed every lew minutes of the three days I lay hclpiess, and do you know," and ho" smiled, "that after I got in here I'd sometimes go silly with the pain, and then they f-ay I f-vi to cooeying till they could hear me down ab the town." Rain came at night, and ho lay there amidst swarms oi moi-quitoes, whoso bites would, at other times, have clrhen him to his feet, regardless of all save that ho could assuage his fc\or at; tho puddle by his side. The accident ho pponed on Thursday. He lay all Friday and Friday night with no water or food — his puddle had soon dried up. Sal in day came, and he determined to try and crawl to tho track, about a mile and a-half distant. Painfully moving 'a few feet, he obtained a piece of hark and fixed it under tho mashed portion of his lcit Icq\ and "making all taut got under weigh," as'he expressed it. The flies had attacked his leg now, and it was in a honiblo state. Swollen, foul, and very painful, even that was nothing to the thirst that the poor fellow suffered*. Beadnoll had not proceeded far, and was about to spell, and the aftornoon of the third day was

crowing old, when lie saw a. dog before him. It did not surprise him, he partly thought it fancy, and perhaps was half unconscious for a few seconds. It was. 'a dog, he "knew ; ho rou&ed himself and gave another, a last cooey. Back upon the ear came the welcome cooey in return. PJo was found. A man whoso name I could nob ascertain, but who was a foreigner, came up, and said he had heard Beadnell's cooeys .1 mile off. Not bad, this, for a wounded man lying on his back, who had. had no food lor three d.iy*» and no water for two. Well, to come to an end, the foreigner went in to Mount Hogan and got assistance irom one John Miller in the shape of a Jray and horses, and Bcadnell was taken in to J. Sue's hotel. An attempt to ,set the leg was now made, but it came to nothing. Mount 1 Eogan is 120 miles by the nearest tracks fiom the Georgetown Hospital. No vet thele&s, twenty miners volunteered to Lake lleadncll in. George Kensington, a carter, alfeo placed his dray and eight horses at the disposal of the ambulance party, and came himself. On Sunday morning early a stait was made for the town. Bcadnell lay on a stretcher in the dray, attended by thclittlcarmy of 20men and 18 riding and six diaught horses. Twothirds of the way, however, the wounded man had to bo cariied on the shoulders of the volunteers. Everyone worked his haidcbt — some going on in front when their spell from the sti etcher came to get water, for Bcidnell was feverish* and diankmuch of it. Coming hurriedly away, cooking utensils and tucker had been almost neglected, and considerable inconvenience was canned by this 5 . Kensington with his dray, in fact all, kept going night and day, and the party reached Georgetown on Wednesday morning at 2 o'clock. Thus it took only three days to bring the injured man 120 miles over as rough a track as perhaps can be found in Queensland, and all honour to those men of MountHoganwhodid it. Bead nell dwelt on how all woiked for his comfoit, how some would pick the atones nil the load, othcis ke«|) the Hies and mosquitoes oil", etc. Dr. Landridge, on receiving him, seems to have given his whole time to the case for days, and to use his own woi ds, "Bcadnell only arrived just in time." Another few hours, and he would ne\er have rccoidcd the pain and privations he had suffered. Beadnell, v*hen we saw him in July, could uk> his leg, but it was nob quite healed. Bis health and spirits were good, and ho spoke with a sparkle in his eyes of gcttino back to the work amongst the conglomerate he loves so well.